An unfortunate aspect of humanity is that we tend to run in herds and follow someone off a cliff as lemmings reportedly do.

In recent weeks, we’ve seen the results of parents refusing to have their kids vaccinated against measles based on a unproven theory about vaccinations causing autism in kids.

The idea started with a doctor in London, England, who managed to get an article published in a British medical journal based on some very fuzzy tests he had done. As it turned out, the magazine retracted the story but the damage had been done and the story managed to get to the U.S.

Vic Drummond recently wrote that a news article about "The Economic and Employment Costs of Not Expanding Medicaid in N.C." was just opinion and "left wing propaganda" and not fact at all.

It seemed apparent that Drummond has not read the detailed 35-page economic analyses by Leighton Ku PhD, MPH. Dr Ku has conducted research and analysis regarding heath care at national and state levels for more than 20 years. He has a PhD in health policy from Boston University and an MPH from University of California, Berkley.

The White House asked me what I thought the most important issue on the table prior to the State of the Union address. Here's what I wrote.

Civilization is out of balance.* In my life time alone (I am 79 years old) we have done most of the damage to Earth, her ecosystems and biodiversity that has happened in all human history. We may already have passed the point of no return. We are indeed in the Anthropocene and we have no time to lose in stopping the damage and reversing the trend to extinction of the human species. This means that half measures will no longer suffice and that we must question all our "values."

Two pieces of news last week were observed by me. One was that Obama told us that the nation was in good economic condition, and the second, our local news shocked us about the future loss of jobs due to changes at Caterpillar and Shaw Industries.

Now one seems to be contrary to the other. As a matter of fact, locally one is a bold-faced lie. We, the citizens, should not be shocked by this because just about everything we pick up in Walmart is stamped "made in China."

Previously, people could have gone for jobs at Belden cord plant, Wrangler Blue Bell or Fruit of the Loom, etc. By the way, strangely, Fruit of the Loom and Shaw Industries were both acquired by Warren Buffet, the man who causes evaporation of more jobs.